A mirror is used to look for snipers and movement in the Islamic State-held buildings at the end of the street. For more than three months, the Federal Police were tasked with holding the lines against Islamic State on the edge of the Old City. They did so with varying levels of success.

April 12, 2017

On the edge of Islamic State territory in west Mosul.

This soldier wore the uniform of the Federal Police, which also bore the patch of the Emergency Response Brigade. He was part of a unit securing a street ahead of the arrival of two Federal Police commanders.

April 9. 2017

A soldiers clears a theater in Mosul's Old City.

April 19, 2017

A Federal Policeman reacts as Islamic State bullets impact the other side of the wall near him. Police were fighting Islamic State for control of this cinema in west Mosul.

April 19, 2017

Federal Police enter a cinema in west Mosul

April 19, 2017

Federal Police tread on old rolls of film as they take positions in a cinema.

April 19, 2017

A Federal Police mortar team maintains their position on the front lines in the Old City.

April 18, 2017

A member of the Federal Police loads his machine gun before battle.

Many units lived in civilian houses at the front for 10 days at a time. The police had constructed make-shift beds in rooms within earshot of Islamic State fighters. The graffiti says "The heroes of al-Banmur were here."

Comforts for enlisted men were few and resupply required crossing a wide street in front of snipers. Islamic State occupied the building directly north, and the doorway near where these men slept received pinpoint enemy fire. April 19, 2017

Federal Police commanders shave and rest in a civilian home on the front line in west Mosul

April 12, 2017

A cook prepares large amounts of rice for the soldiers.

April 8, 2017

The Iraqi military shared food with civilians arriving at their lines.

These boys had just arrived from northwest Mosul, where they had lived under the Islamic State for more than 2 years.

Musharrifah, Northwest Mosul. May 5, 2017

A tank crew member pulls a man out of the stream of refugees on suspicion of being an Islamic State militant

Musharrifah, northwest Mosul

May 5, 2017

A member of the 9th Armored Division walks with a child across Iraqi lines.

The child, whose parents were nearby, was one of hundreds that fled through this army position.

May 5, 2017

April 12, 2017. West Mosul

A makeshift ambulance used to transport soldiers and civilians from the front in Musharrifah, northwest Mosul

May 2017

A member of the Golden Division shows off a photograph he took with Jared Kushner.

Kushner, the son-in-law of President Donald Trump, had been in Mosul two days previous.